All was well?
by StalkerAngel
Summary: Just because Harry's scar hadn't pained him in 19 years doesn't mean that all was well. A story of what happens in the next generation of Hogwarts students. Please R&R!
1. Prologue: The Magical Quill

Prologue: The Magical Quill

**A/N: This is a story that will take place in the next generation of Hogwarts students: Rosie, Albus, James, Scorpius, and other such characters will play important roles. First though, a prologue to set the stage...**

One fine morning in the year 2010 (the morning of November the first, to be exact), headmistress Minerva McGonagall sat in the Great Hall, tucking into her breakfast of sausage and eggs. However, she was soon interrupted by a large tawny owl that had landed directly in front of her, and proceeded to stick his leg out, with the day's copy of _The Daily Prophet_ attached to it. Professor McGonagall absently leaned forward to collect her paper from the delivery owl, untying it and depositing seven knuts into the owl's collection pouch. Minerva unrolled the paper, and her heart froze.

_**MUGGLE CITY ATTACKED!**_

_**STRANGE MARK IN SKY SPREADS TERROR**_

_Last night, Halloween celebrations turned deadly for the residents of East Sussex. The Ministry's auror department reported a total of 573 deaths. What was most strange about the attack was the mark in the sky: horrifyingly reminiscent of the dark mark, a glowing purple image of a skull protruding from the mouth of a snake floated above the homes of the murdered muggles. Unfortunately, by the time the aurors arrived at the scene, it was too late. "Our sources didn't catch wind of the attack until the attackers were already gone, so all that was left to do was clean up the wreckage and send in the obliviators to modify the memories of the survivors," an unnamed auror informed _the prophet_. The list of those killed ranges from Alverson to Williams, with-_

Williams... that name sounded familiar, but professor McGonagall wasn't sure where from... suddenly, it hit her. Without taking a bite of her breakfast, she walked briskly out of the Great Hall, and to her office. Once inside, she pulled a book from one of the shelves, revealing a secret room. The room was small and circular, with stone walls. There were two small windows, allowing light to stream in and onto the desk, which had a small assortment of items on it: a large stack of parchment being held in place by a circular black paperweight, a candle sitting beside a stack of envelopes, a small inkwell, a bell, and a stamp of the Hogwarts crest, and an owl perch. However, the two most prominent items on the desk were a large book, and a bright blue quill that was sitting in a slightly larger inkwell. Professor McGonagall rushed behind the desk and took a seat in the brown upholstered chair, quickly opening the book to a section labeled 2006. She scanned the names on the list, until she came towards the final one: Alexandra Williams. Professor McGonagall's heart sank. The magical quill may write down the names of the magical children, but it was the headmaster or headmistress's duty to locate the children.

Professor McGonagall didn't need to open the drawer and look through her notes on where the children born in 2006 lived to know that Alexandra Williams was a muggle-born had lived in East Sussex- the very place that had been attacked last night. Not only that, but _The Daily Prophet _had said that Williams was the surname of at least one of the muggles who had perished last night... which could very well mean that there would be one fewer acceptance letter for Minerva McGonagall to write when it came time to send them out to children born in 2006. Professor McGonagall somberly closed the book, and headed back into the main room of her office. She walked behind her desk, and up to the portrait of the headmaster before her, Albus Dumbledore. "Albus," she said. "I need you to go to your portrait at the Ministry of Magic, and send me someone from the auror department." "Certainly," the portrait of Albus Dumbledore answered, and he immediately turned around and walked further into the portrait, until his figure disappeared. Minerva sighed, and took her seat at the desk, doing her best to fight the impulse to stand back up and pace the office. A few moments (that felt like hours) later, Professor Dumbledore reappeared in his portrait. "An auror will arrive via floo shortly," he reported back. "May I ask what this is about?" "There was an attack on a muggle area last night," Professor McGonnagal replied. "I fear one of Hogwarts' future students may not have survived." Professor Dumbledore's portrait nodded gravely, an expression on his face that indicated he had suspected such to be the case based on Minerva's behavior.

A moment later, the fire in the fireplace turned bright green, and a wizard stepped out of the grate. "You called, professor?" The auror asked.

"I did, " Professor McGonagall replied grimly. "It has come to my attention that a muggle residential area was attacked last night, resulting in hundreds of deaths?"

"That's right," the wizard replied, looking down. "A right mess that was, trying to sort all that out. The obliviators only just finished up about an hour ago," he said.

"Do you have any leads on who might have done it?" Minerva asked him.

The auror frowned. "No, that's the odd part... usually, we're able to get there in time to at least know who it is we have to track down... this time, the only hint was that weird mark in the sky," he answered. "Why? Do you know anything?" he asked.

"Of course not," professor McGonagall replied. "I called you here because I need to know who survived," she clarified. "More specifically, there's a muggle-born girl by the name of Alexandra Williams who lived in that area. Do you know if she survived?"

The auror nodded, an even more downcast expression appearing on his face. "She was a mess, that one," he answered. "She was the only one in her family to survive... we found her barely conscious, hiding behind her father, with a broken leg. We had to knock her out and get her treated at St. Mungo's. She's healed now, and was just placed in foster care," he reported.

"And her memory?" Professor McGonagall asked.  
>"She was obliviated," the wizard answered. "We didn't know she was magic at the time... should I tell the obliviators to lift the charm?" he asked.<p>

Professor McGonagall hesitated. "...No, it's probably for the best if we leave things as they are for now," she finally answered. "We can lift the charm if and when she's ready, but for the time being, she's too young to understand the truth"

The auror hesitated, but then nodded. Minerva guessed that he was imagining if the same thing had happened to his own daughter, and had come to the same conclusion. "Is that all, then?" he finally asked.

Minerva nodded. "That is all," she said. "thank you for your assistance."

The auror nodded curtly, and pulled a pinch of powdery, grey ashes from his pocket, throwing them into the fire. He stepped into the now green flames, and very clearly said "Ministry of Magic!" He became a swirl in the green flames, and then he was gone.

Professor McGonagall sighed, and slumped over slightly in her chair. It had been over a decade since anything like this had happened... She turned around to face the portrait of Albus Dumbledore.

"Did I do the right thing?" she asked.

Albus nodded. "I believe so," he answered. "However, you must be careful not to coddle her too long... you must be careful not to make the same mistake I did with Harry, trying to protect him from the truth for too long. I agree that she is not ready to know at this point, but that does not mean she'll never be ready," he said.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "And the attack?" she asked. "What does it mean, Albus?"

"That," he answered, "is a good question. At this point it could mean a nearly endless variety of things... I took the liberty of gathering information from the portraits at the ministry, though... If I were to take a guess, I would say it means that Tom and his death eaters were sadly not the last of those to persecute muggles"

"What should we do?" Professor McGonagall asked, voice hushed.

"At this point, there is nothing more we can do... nothing but to watch and to listen for what this will mean in the future," Dumbledore replied grimly. "Whether anything will come of it... only time will tell," he finally said. "It could be an isolated incident, but I highly doubt it. It is far more likely that this is only the beginning."

**A/N: Well, there you go. I hope you liked it! If not, please review and let me know why not. Also... just so you all are aware, whether or not I continue depends on how many reviews I get. I have a whole story planned out in my head, but without reviews, I fail to get myself properly motivated to write... This isn't a threat, just a fair warning: if you want it continued, let me know in a review!**


	2. Ottery St Catchpole

**A/N: So as to avoid confusion, I'll say this right now- although the previous chapter took place in the fall, this chapter is taking place in the summer. **

Ottery St. Catchpole

_Seven years later..._

Alexandra Williams awoke with a start, breathing heavily. She'd had a nightmare again... but what had it been about? All she could remember was a fiery horizon, and a flash of red light. Try as she might, she couldn't remember any more. Sighing, she glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, which told her that it was 7:26 in the morning. Figuring that she may as well just get up now (after all, there was no way she'd be able to fall back asleep), she slowly stretched, and got out of bed. After changing out of her pyjamas and into a t-shirt and jeans, she crossed the room to her dresser, where she picked up her hairbrush and ran it haphazardly through her tangled brown hair, tugging it into a sloppy ponytail as she headed downstairs.

"Good morning, Lexie," A short, plump young woman with mousy brown hair and a heart-shaped face said, setting a plate eggs and toast in front of Alexandra as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"g'morning Eleanor," Lexie replied, stifling a yawn.

For almost a week now, Eleanor and her husband Micheal had been Lexie's foster parents. Although Eleanor and Michael were strict about things like keeping her room clean and going to bed on time, they seemed to care for her quite a bit. Much more, in fact, than any of the 28 other sets of foster parents Lexie had been assigned to over the past seven years.

To Lexie, the mere fact that she had been shunted from foster home to foster home with such frequency was proof of one thing, and one thing alone- that she was a freak. It wasn't as though the foster parents she'd had before were bad people (well, except for those duffers she'd lived with on Magnolia crescent for three weeks)... in fact, most of them seemed like wonderful people- they simply couldn't handle the trouble that seemed to follow Lexie everywhere.

Lexie quietly ate her breakfast, sleepily lamenting on some of the stranger incidents that had lead to her being moved to new foster homes. When she'd lived in Little Whinging, there was a group of girls who always picked on her for wearing hand-me-down clothes. One day they actually took it to the next level and locked her in a closet- the only problem was, the leader of the clique burned her hand on the door when she was holding it shut. Lexie had tried to explain to the headmaster and her foster parents that she didn't know how the door had gotten so hot, but she was expelled for starting a fire on school grounds nonetheless, and was promptly moved to a new foster home.

And of course, she could never forget the time her foster mother had taken her shopping in London. About halfway through the day, Lexie had noticed a strange building with a picture of a cauldron on it's sign. She'd asked her foster mother what was in there, only to find that her foster mother couldn't seem to see it at all. The two argued about it for a while, until her foster mother decided that Lexie had gone mad, and promptly sent her away.

That incident (which she often referred to as the cauldron incident) was the fist of many times where she saw something that nobody else around her seemed to be able to see. Whether it was monuments that changed form when you walked close enough to them, things that moved which everyone else thought were stationary, or even entire buildings that nobody else could see... Lexie learned fairly quickly to try and identify all the 'invisible' things every time she moved to a new place, so that she would know not to mention them in front of other people, and subsequently get sent off again. As for the strange incidents that happened around her... she wasn't quite sure why those happened, and therefore (much to her frustration) could not do anything to prevent them.

Just as she was finishing off her breakfast, Eleanor spoke up again.

"You don't have any plans for the day, do you?" She asked. "Because there's a few things I need to get in town, and I could use some help getting the shopping done"

Lexie shook her head. She never really had any specific plans (after all, she'd only just moved here, and therefore hadn't had a proper chance to make friends) but she thought it was nice of Eleanor to ask, all the same.

"I'd like that," Lexie replied. Between settling into her new bedroom and getting used to the rest of the house, She'd been spending a lot of time indoors lately, and she thought it'd be a good opportunity to finally get out and see the town.

Not too much later, Lexie and Eleanor were strolling down Ottery St. Catchpole's main street, approaching the town square. It wasn't a very big town, but Lexie thought it was much better than any town she'd lived in before- there just seemed to be some sort of _aura_ about it... It didn't look like much, but she had the feeling that if she looked hard enough, she'd find quite a bit to explore. Sure enough, as she looked out to the hills, she saw a strange building rising up in the distance... It was too far off for her to see clearly, but it appeared to be about the size of a house, only tall and cylindrical, shaped almost like a castle piece in chess. She opened her mouth to ask Eleanor about it, but stopped herself just in time. She couldn't be certain, but this seemed like it might be one of those times where she was seeing something that nobody else could.

"Are you okay?" Eleanor asked, taking notice of Lexie's puzzled expression.  
>"Yeah, I'm fine," Lexie said quickly. "I was just wondering... are there any houses out that way?" she asked, pointing directly at the odd, castle-shaped house. Eleanor glanced in that direction, and shook her head.<p>

"As far as I know, nobody's ever lived out there... it's all just undeveloped forests and fields," she answered, her eyes sliding right over the strange building without pausing, without even recognizing its existence. Lexie nodded, and turned her focus back to the sidewalk ahead. So... she had been right. Once again, there was something she could see, that other people seemed to be utterly oblivious to.

For the rest of the morning, Lexie feigned a polite interest in everything Eleanor was showing her around town... normally she'd be far more excited, but her mind kept going back to the building. She kept an eye on other people around town, and nobody else seemed to glance at it, either- why was she the only one able to see it? Finally, after a brief stop to pick up envelopes from the paper shop, they headed back to Eleanor's house. As soon as all of the groceries had been unloaded, Lexie decided it was time to get to the bottom of the mystery of the castle-shaped building.

"Hey Eleanor, I was just thinking... I haven't really seen all that much of Ottery St. Catchpole yet, so I was wondering... Do you think maybe I could explore for a little while?"

Eleanor paused to consider for a few moments, then answered "Well... I suppose that'd be alright, as long as you're back for dinner," she said slowly.

Lexie's expression brightened immediately. "Thanks!" She said, and before Eleanor could change her mind, Lexie headed for the door.

"Just make sure you don't go out too far!" Eleanor called as Lexie opened the door.

"I won't!" Lexie replied. "See you at dinner!"

And with that, she left.

After a few more minutes of walking, the castle-shaped building came into view. The funny thing was... it looked even stranger up close. She was about to go and take a closer look, when suddenly... out of nowhere, an apple came flying straight for her, and hit her on the arm with a dull _thud_. Rubbing her arm and glancing wildly around, she looked for a source. Oddly enough, there weren't any trees nearby... what was going on? The only apple trees in the direction the apple had come from were way too far off to actually hit her... She simply stared at the apple trees for a few seconds, utterly dumbfounded, when suddenly... another apple came flying out from over the top of them. This apple didn't fly out nearly as far as the one that had hit her, but it definitely went too far to have done it on its own... curious as to what was causing it, Lexie made her way up the hills and towards the apple trees. After a few minutes of climbing, she started to hear voices... it sounded like there were some kids on the other side of the apple trees, playing a sport of some kind? But... what kind of sport could possibly send apples flying that far over the treetops? Eager to get a closer look, Lexie quickly clambered to the top. She worked her way through the small orchard, following the voices, narrowly avoiding being hit by another apple. Now, she was close enough to hear what the kids were saying. "Come on, Hugo! You're letting them score all the points!" A boy complained. "Cut him some slack! He's been doing a pretty good job," another girl chided. Something was off about where their voices were coming from, though... despite the fact that she had reached the top of the hill, the voices were still coming from far above her. Cautiously, she made her way to the edge of the trees, peered out from behind a tree... then blinked, rubbed her eyes vigorously, and looked again, one thought on her mind. _No__way._

**A/N: Well, there ya go! That chapter was kind of hard for me to write, because it kinda felt like an awkward, but necessary transition chapter. If I keep getting reviews, I'll probably update again sooner than I did last time... special thanks to orcadarwin, fantasylunargirl, Melissa, Nad, AsukiStar, and Chuffi4Harmony for reviewing the prologue! **


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